The Expanse Wiki:Manual of style
This page approaches the manual of style established by the administrating council of The Expanse Wiki. All new contributors are required to lecturate the following rules and remain as faithful to them as possible, although deviations might be acceptable under certain conditions. The following succession of guidelines is based upon Wikipedia's manual of style. Tip For a successful and coherent article, always imagine being an in-universe historian. Allowance is made for the Trivia section where perspective may be considered that of a real-universe journalist. Legend A green sidebar implies that the structure/iteration is correct, while a red one implies that it is against the manual of style and should be avoided. Formatting General The most important aspect of formatting is article structuring, as it dictates the information the reader will approach and when. Consequently, a good structure anticipates a good article. Organize sections in an article in a hierarchical structure, similarly to an outline. Wherever possible, try to have an introduction for each section. Just like the article as a whole, the section should start with an introduction and then have its subsections below it. Too many nested sections usually leads to a confusing or unreadable article. Citations and references On pages that use a section, citations should use the tags and should be placed after nearby punctuation or parentheses. The contents of the citation will vary depending on the source: * Web citations: list the work in italics (like: ) followed by a link to the article that shows the article title, the author, and the date/time. * For print media sources, the italicized work title and page number is sufficient. * For other print media sources, list the author, italicized work title, and page number Citations that will be used multiple times on a page should add the name= attribute (like: reference contents) on the first use and self closed tag for subsequent uses (like: ). Statements that either need a citation (because they assert events or facts that should be documented or portrayed) or have suspect assertions, should be followed by the template. Examples: Marco Inaros the crazed leader of the Free Navy and portrayed by Keon Alexander,io9 - The Expanse Season 4 Finally Introduces the Belters' Charming Devil by Beth Elderkin 12/03/19 4:30PM (who is considered to be quite charming)Deadline - Expanse’: Rosa Gilmore, Keon Alexander & Jess Salgueiro To Recur In Season 4 by Denise Petski February 25, 2019 8:45am and also a major faction leader in the Belt. Special characters :This is a very mild recmommendation... Some languages use letters with accent marks or other marks that are not standard in the basic ASCII character set. Please use HTML Entities in the page content (i.e. ç for ç as in Français). For new page names, you can use the magic word to give you a special code that will represent the special character (i.e. which gives: ; so you would use it like Fran ois Chau). You can also use it in links like Fran ois Chau which appears as: Fran ois Chau. You will likely need to use in the editor to use entities or urlencode. Introductory section An article should always commence with an introductory/lead section, placed before the first heading. The lead should not be explicitly entitled Introduction or any equivalent header. The table of contents, if displayed, appears after the lead section and before the first subheading. The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context, and explaining why the subject is interesting or notable. It should be between one or two paragraphs long, and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article. If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article. For example: The United Nations is an interstellar federation, spanning across several star systems, representing the centralized government of Earth, Luna, and other territories across the Milky Way. The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — article title produces article title. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article; for example: Ilus, also known as New Terra or Bering Survey Four, is a planet in the system with the same name. The titles of all novels, as well as every iteration of "The Expanse", should always be in italics, even the article title: Persepolis Rising is the upcoming seventh novel in The Expanse series. The titles of all novellas and episodes should be placed between quotation marks, but without italicization: "Here There Be Dragons" is the eleventh episode of the second season of The Expanse. Do not put links in the bold reiteration of the title in the article's lead sentence. For example: "Here There Be Dragons" is ... Wikitext notes For those users who edit in the preferred , please fix a problem that the Visual Editor adds after editing which is removing the line break after the infobox. Missing linebreak: The United Nations is an interstellar federation... Correct with linebreak: The United Nations is an interstellar federation... Titles, headings, and subheadings All titles, headings, and subheadings should be capitalized. If the title is composed of only one common or proper noun, it should always be capitalized. Non-capitalized one-word titles, headings, and subheadings are considered are strictly forbidden. In case of multi-word titles, the only capitalized words should be the first one and all proper nouns. No common noun, unless it represents the first word, should ever be capitalized. For example: Armistice between the United Nations and the Martian Congressional Republic Armistice Between The United Nations And The Martian Congressional Republic Special symbols in titles Article titles may not contain the number symbol, also known as the "pound symbol" or the "hash sign". The HTTP web protocol treats the number symbol as a special token to link into predefined anchor locations (usually named sections) of a page. This is an intrinsic feature of the underlying protocol and cannot be circumvented. Articles for topics which contain a number symbol will need to have this character substituted in the title for links to function normally and properly. The wiki will not allow articles containing the character in the name to be created as-is. The wiki may automatically and unexpectedly replace the symbol with a dash in some cases. For the TV show, there will be occasionally instances where the restriction against the number becomes an issue particularly since the production uses characters with a number at the end to distinguish characters with similar or related roles. Please use as substitute the "full-width number symbol" (＃) via the entity sequence "＃"Thread:12129 This substitution will need to be mirrored in the character's article title and the links to the article with such a modified title. Images in infoboxes Please try to use images at least 300px x 300px or larger. Images that are square or slightly taller than wide are preferred. It is fine to use images from the TV series in infoboxes for book-related pages presuming they are appropriate. Non-English titles of organizations in infoboxes It is possible for certain organizations or nations to have their names in languages other than English showcased in the title section of the infobox on their respective articles. The most common usage of this is for the French language (thought it is not clear why exactly), which is considered the second most important language in the universe of The Expanse, after English itself. However, other prominent languages, such as Spanish and Mandarin, are not impossible to appear. Whenever a contributor puts the name of an organization in a language other than English, they should make sure to denote the language through its (fr - French; en - English, etc.). The following standard is to be respected: Everything between < and > is variable. See an example for a French name: Nations Unies Table of contents A table of contents will automatically appear in articles with a minimum of four headings (unless forced by the below options). By default, this will be left-aligned above the first section heading. * To the force a TOC position (left-aligned): __TOC__ * To completely remove the TOC from a page: The table of contents can be right-aligned - but only if it is very long (over 15 entries) and an information box (infobox) is not occupying the top-right corner of the article (rare exceptions exist). * Right-aligned TOC that floats next to text: Galleries With very few exceptions, galleries - collections of multiple images - should be set to slideshow. Please note that this wiki uses the new type of galleries released by FANDOM. Captioning of images is encouraged, as a means of helping those reading to identify the moment that the image is illustrating. Tables Tables should be set, when possible, to class "expanse zebra", as means of integrating the design of said table within the wiki theme. Also, please structurate tables to be as least complex as possible. See also, references, and external links The last sections, if they exist, should always be "See also", followed by "References", followed by "External links". In the case of "See also", use bullets to list the internal links. For references, use . Finally, in the external links should be all external links (links outside of expanse.fandom.com). Categories Categories should be added to the end of an article - a full list can be found on . They take the form Category:Categoryname. All articles should be accessible starting from Category:Browse, via subcategories. Quotations For a memorable quote placed at the very beginning of a page, usually about a character, please use . For inline quotes in sections such as "Memorable quotes", use . As of June 22, 2017, it is not possible for episode pages to have a "Memorable quotes" section. Character pages Character pages, as all other, must commence with an introductory phrase centering on the respective character. TV ::See for an accurate example. Regarding TV character pages, the article itself must be divided into four mandatory headings: Biography, Personality, Media, and Appearances. In turn, although not mandatory, the Biography section should be divided into Background and Throughout the series. The Background subsection should contain information about the early (pre-series) life of the character, such as the birthplace, birthdate, the education they followed, and how they arrived in the position they were at their debut in the series. It should be at most two-three paragraphs long. Also, all contributors are asked to make sure that the information they add is certain or, if assumed, deductible from what has been stated within the TV adaptation. The Throughout the series subsection, likely the most important of the whole article, should be divided into seasons using a tabber, as seen below: |-|Season One = <> |-|Season Two= <> Instead of <>, the episodic biography of the character should be added, adding a one-three paragraphs for each episode, introduced by In , ..., where X is the number of the season, and NUM, the number of the episode, with reference to its position within the season (for example, the fifth episode of the third season would be . Please note that episodes of the first season use , not . See an example below: |-|Season Two = In , Iturbi meets with Avasarala after the UNSC meeting. He reveals his theory regarding the Venus phenomenon and begs Chrisjen to ensure his embarking on the Arboghast. She accepts, knowing that he will be her inside man and have unfiltered intelligence on the protomolecule's activity. In , Iturbi is aboard the Arboghast with a crew of scientists and a UN official named Janus. Iturbi and Janus clash about what happened to make Eros violate several laws of physics, which now needed reconsideration. The big question remained - 'was it proof of intelligent alien life?' Then, a MCR vessel appears to be investigating the wreckage as well, clearly there being information worth gleaning. They discover that there is a hotbed of biological matter teeming where Eros crashed into Venus, a location that is hot enough to melt lead. Please note that the some characters have their episodic biography detailed on [http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse Syfy's official The Expanse site], at Enter the future. However, the text does not usually meet this wiki's manual of style and must be altered accordingly. Also, since Syfy dropped The Expanse after season 3, their usage is discouraged as time goes on and a suitable replacement should be used as soon as it appears. For very long seasonal biographies, a scroll can be added using and . Be aware that this code must be repeated for every season of the tabber. The Personality section, predictably, encompasses information about the personality/inner self of the character in an objective manner. The Media section, akin to Throughout the series, should be divided in two using a tabber: Images and Videos. Images should be organized in a slideshow gallery. The Appearances section, the last of the mandatory four headings, lists information about the episodes the character appears in, using the appropriate templates, , where X'' is the number of the season. Non-obligatory sections include '''Memorable quotes', a list of the most important of a character's words, Notes and trivia, which includes information about different aspects involving the character such as, for example, discrepancies between TV and novel names. The Notes section should consist of objective facts that relate separate elements within the universe of the fiction to each other as they pertain directly to the subject of the article. On the other hand, the Trivia section should consist of objective facts that relate to the real-world production of the TV show or novels as those facts pertain directly to the subject of the article. Finally, External links, which is section consisting of a succession of links to pages, usually on possible other source websites (old Syfy character pages, IMDb, Wikipedia, articles about the character, etc.), that involve the character. Novels Akin to their TV counterparts, novel character pages should commence with an introductory paragraph. It should include a Biography section, none other are mandatory. Episode pages Like all articles, episode pages must commence with an introductory section, which should always respect the following standard: "" is the Xth episode of the Yth season of The Expanse. Instead of , the actual name of the episode should be iterated, between quotation marks. Xth and Yth should be replaced with the position of the episode within the series, X'' - position within season, ''Y - the season the episode belongs to, but in full form, i.e. twelfth instead of 12th, ninth instead of 9th, etc. Here is an example: "Here There Be Dragons" is the eleventh episode of the second season of The Expanse. For the last two episodes of a season, the lead section should also contain a the position relative to the season finale of the episode, i.e. penultimate for the second-to-last episode, and final for the season finale. For example: "Caliban's War" is the thirteenth and final episode of the second season of The Expanse. "The Monster and the Rocket" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the second season of The Expanse. The first heading, Synopsis, should contain the press release blurb of the episode. The next one, Recap, should contain a detailed summary of the events that take place within the episode. Recaps for seasons 1 thru 3 can be usually found on Syfy's website, but they need to be modified to meet this wiki's standards. The recap should be placed between and . The third section, Cast, should contain information regarding the characters that appear in the episode and their respective actors. It too should be placed between and . Be aware when creating links for some minor character pages that the show uses many character/role names with a number to distinguish them apart in the format {character short text description} #{integer}. The HTTP web protocol treats the number symbol as a special token and this will need to be substituted in order to function normally and properly. Please use as substitute the "full-width number symbol" via the entity sequence "＃"This substitution will need to be mirrored in the character's article title and links to any articles with the modified title. For example: Jung-Yul Kim as Menacing Belter #1 would have code written as Jung-Yul Kim as Menacing Belter #1 and the article for the character itself would be titled. Menacing Belter ＃1 Note that the number symbol has been replaced with the actual "full-width" number symbol. Do not use the html entity sequence in the article title itself. The next section, Media, should be structured identically to that of TV character articles. Next, another section, Notes and trivia, should appear and contain information similar to that of the TV character page section of the same name. Unique to episode pages, a Cast credits on-screen section should appear next, featuring images of cast member names that appear at the beginning and end of the episode. The penultimate section (if necessary), References, can be generated using the template . The last section, External links, should contain a link to the IMDb episode page (or the episode page on Syfy's website, if from season 1 thru 3). At the very bottom of the page, the appropriate navbox should be added using , where #'' is the number of the season. For example, for any episode of the first season, should be used. Subjectivity and certain verbiages Subjective views are strictly forbidden and should never appear on any article of this wiki, unless it is a Forum post, blog, or Discussion. All contributors are required to vanquish any opinions of their own when writing an article and abide by objectivity. Evidently, the most common usage of intolerable subjectivity is the appearance of first-person vantage point. Subjective expressions include but are 'not' limited to: * ''In my opinion / My opinion on the matter is that ... * For my part * Regarding me (and my views) * the verbs to think''' and '''to believe, as well as any other opinion verbs, conjugated in any mood, tense, aspect, in the first person, either plural or singular; examples include: I think that ..., I never thought that ..., We did not think that ..., etc. * So far, so good * We find out ''(objective counterpart: ''It is found out) * We learn ''(objective counterpart: ''It is learnt) * We uncover ''(objective counterpart: ''It is revealed) * Based on the above* * Concerning me (any my views) * I / We deduct(ed) that ... * I / We can (could have) deduct(ed) that ... * ..., but no, ... * Actually, ... * interrogations, for example: What could that have been? * subjective exclamations, for example That part of the episode was amazing! Although objective, there are certain verbiages that are recommended to be avoided by The Expanse Wiki council. Their use is allowed only under very rare and strict circumstances, such as Trivia sections: * In ''The Expanse * ''In the TV series * In the novel / book series * In the books * In ''The Expanse ''universe * In the TV adaptation * In the TV universe * In the book / novel universe * In this universe * In our universe * In ''' * ''In ''' ||''' Attention! This expression is perfectly allowed under the Throughout the series section of TV character pages. * ''In '**'' * ''' after ' '' * ' before <'book / episode name> Regional idiomatic phrases and jargon are strictly forbidden. Be aware that should any of these expressions be found in the quote of a character or in a citation from a novel / episode, any rules that forbade their usage are voided. Notes *Although not subjective, this expression should be avoided. **The number of the episode follows the standard A''x''B, where A'' is the number of the season, and ''B is the number of the episode within the season. Grammar and punctuation The governing aspect of any wiki article is grammar, which includes punctuation. Please use accurate grammar, as well as punctuation. Always place comma after a vocative, and never place a comma between a subject and its corresponding verb. Common mistakes include but are not limited to: * ', '; example: The governor, is good; She, has done all she could, etc. * not using comma before vocative: Hey Andrew, what are you doing? , correctly: Hey, Andrew, what are you doing? * not isolating nonrestrictive clause between commas: Ilus which is the first planet settled by humanity outside the Sol system is very far away, correctly: Ilus, which is the first planet settled by humanity outside the Sol system, is very far away. See also * About this wiki * Candidates for speedy deletion * General policies Manual of Style Manual of Style Manual of Style